Brendan Pedersen

Higher interchange fees and a giveback of loan-loss provisions helped banks overcome rising expenses and other headwinds in the third quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Quarterly Banking Profile.

The White House is considering nominating Richard Cordray, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2013 to 2017, as the Federal Reserve's next vice chairman of supervision, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Some Senate Democrats are mulling a revised proposal that would require banks and credit unions to report account data tied only to business, not personal, income. Despite the change and attempts to minimize compliance costs, industry officials remain opposed.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reaffirmed national banks' ability to offer cryptocurrency services — with the caveat that its permission is necessary. Meanwhile, it joined other regulators in previewing additional crypto-related guidance.

The nomination hearing for Saule Omarova featured sharp questioning from members of both parties, raising further doubts about her chances of getting confirmed. The industry views her as too anti-business to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Independent Community Bankers of America made the rare move of urging senators not to confirm Saule Omarova to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The group argued that some of her proposals could have drastic consequences for the industry.

Saule Omarova faces an uphill climb to confirmation as comptroller of the currency over concerns that she supports more government control of the banking system. Her hearing before the Banking Committee could be a make-or-break moment, observers say.

Saule Omarova is scheduled to appear before the Banking Committee as progressives cheer her potential appointment to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and critics describe her views as too radical. Her confirmation would rely on the support of every Democrat in the chamber.

In a letter to the agency’s new director, top Senate Democrats recommended policy steps intended to limit mistakes in consumers’ credit files that they said “can ruin lives.”

The OCC is expected by year-end to issue high-level guidance for banks on assessing how they contribute to climate change and how it impacts them. The agency and other regulators may next consider further actions, such as giving Community Reinvestment Act credit for financing environment-friendly projects and even more rigorous stress tests, analysts say.

Directors can urge executives to move more quickly in gauging their institutions’ vulnerability to extreme weather events, said acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu. He offered a list of five questions every board member should ask senior leaders about their progress.

Fearing government intrusion, financial institutions’ own clients rallied against the Biden administration plan for their account information to be shared with the IRS. Their involvement added weight to the industry’s opposition.

Senior congressional Democrats are concerned that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — an arm of the Treasury Department — is dragging its feet on a rulemaking to require corporations to report their beneficial owners.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu previewed but provided little detail about the “high-level … supervisory expectations” for large institutions. His statement was one of several by regulators to coincide with an international climate change summit.

A report by the agency found that consumers in majority Black neighborhoods were more than twice as likely as those in white neighborhoods to lodge complaints with the credit bureaus over information in their files. Meanwhile, disputes were less common among older borrowers.

Twenty-one centrist Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about the provision, which banks have fought to keep out of the social policy package. Meanwhile, the White House made no explicit mention of it in a draft summary of the bill.

A proposal that would enlist financial institutions’ help in raising tax revenue to pay for President Biden’s social policy agenda lost steam after objections from a key senator. The administration was said to be narrowing the plan’s scope to preserve its chances.

The agency said the risk management program for Cenlar FSB, which performs servicing functions for financial institution clients, was inadequate for the bank's size.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a swing Democratic vote in deliberations over President Biden's social spending bill, signaled opposition to requiring financial institutions to report customer account information to help catch tax evaders. The measure "is going to be gone," he predicted.

In their first direct appeal to President Biden, financial institutions and other industries' trade lobbies called on the administration to abandon its proposal that would give the Internal Revenue Service new information on customer accounts.